


The Tavern Girl

by Lubylu1989



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Kidnapping, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Possessive Kylo, asshole kylo, rey healer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:13:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21681328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lubylu1989/pseuds/Lubylu1989
Summary: Rey works in a tavern on the outskirts of Jakku, a settlement that borders two territories at war.When a unusual traveler seeks food, Rey finds herself helping him and drawing the attention of Emperor Snoke's appointed successor.Taken in for her medicinal talents, she is forced to work in the castle, seeking a cure for an ill Emperor or face execution.Navigating castle life is not easy, not with Kylo Ren breathing down her neck at every turn while trying to find a way to escape.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 5
Kudos: 106





	The Tavern Girl

Nima Outpost wasn’t exactly the best place to live. It was on the outskirts of Jakku, a small city tucked away at the bottom of the First Order’s territory. Most people that came to visit the small outpost were wary travellers, passing through on their way to The Republic in hopes of a better life. It was essentially the only stop before the boarder and littered with old relics from the old wars. It was where last blood was drawn before the downfall of The Empire all together and for once, the Republic had governed over the whole country. That was until The First Order began stirring trouble and divided it again, slowly gaining territory through whatever means possible and pushing the Republic back enough that they were considered the more dominant of the two factions. So, Nima Outpost stood as a sort of symbolic place to some. The First Order unable to push further due to the Republic strongholds not even the Empire had managed to invade, as well as becoming a small trading hub between the areas.

A handful of people called the outpost home. One, a young woman called Rey. She had been left here at a young age, passed off to the run-down tavern owner and made to work since the age of six. Rey wasn’t sure why her parents had left her in such a place, but she was certain they would come back for her. One day, any day, they would walk through the tavern door and take her away. Until then, she would keep her head down and navigate the tavern with ease. When she first started, she had been put on room cleaning duty in the hastily put together guest rooms. It had been easy work and kept her out of sight. Once she was older, she was put to work in the main tavern area, handing out drinks, cleaning tables, and making sure no one cause any damage to severe. Unkar Plutt, the owner, was out back in the kitchen, putting out grease filled plates of cheap meat, root vegetables, and watering down the ale to spare costs. Rey wasn’t paid anything. She never had been. She did get a roof over her head in a small barn that she had made her own and meals made of food only days off turning rotten. It wasn’t much, but it was something, and Rey was determined to make the best of the situation.

The tavern wasn’t open yet being that the sun was only just starting to rise. It was Rey’s favourite part of the day, where everything was quiet and still. It was the time she dedicated to her small garden just outside of the barn. It wasn’t much, put together with what she could find such as horse manure left behind by traveller’s steeds. An old woman passed through once a year with seeds from plants she had discovered on her travels. She usually traded some with Rey for a free meal and tankard of ale, allowing the woman to expand her garden with a range of different species. Some Rey had even managed to fashion into helpful ointments that help heal burns, cuts, and even fevers. Unkar didn’t like it, but once Rey had convinced him that she could sell some of the ointments in the tavern, he allowed her to keep the garden as long as he could have half the profits. Rey agreed, just happy that she could keep something to call her own.

Rey was humming to herself, a warm shawl across her face to keep her nose warm from the early bitter breeze. Jakku was a dry place, but if the sun wasn’t up the temperature dipped quite significantly. Rey found out quite early on that some plants wouldn’t be able to survive in the climate, so she nurtured the ones that did closely. She wandered down the small path she had made, watering them as she went as she knew if she tried to water them during the day she would lose half the moisture to the heat of the sun. Some needed more water than others, and she stopped at the occasional few to trim them with a knife she had acquired from the kitchen without Unkar noticing.

“Rey!” a voice barked out from the back of the tavern. She turned, realising that the sun was now nearly settled into the sky and it was time for her to head inside. Unkar had already gone back it, his bark just a warning not to be late.

When she walked in he was already in the kitchen, cooking the eggs from the chickens she had collected the previous day. The tavern owned a small quantity of livestock, animals that had been traded at some point or another for a few nights board and meals. Some were used for meat, others for breeding to keep food in supply as well as by products from them such as eggs or milk, which Rey made cream and butter out of. The tavern was pretty self sufficient to a point. It wasn’t small either. The main area could sit up to twenty people at a time and upstairs there were ten guest rooms. The tavern was never overly full as most people stopped in for a meal before continuing on, but there were regulars, locals of Jakku that used it as a small community hub. Ten rooms were enough for people wishing to stay, and if they needed one more, Unkar at times had offered her barn for a cheaper rate. Those times meant Rey had to sleep outside, but she usually snuck inside the tavern and slept by the cooking fire that was still emitting warmth even after being put out.

“Table in the back,” Unkar grumbled out, pushing a plate towards her lazily and cocking his head.

“When did they arrive?” Rey was surprised. Guests usually didn’t come down this early and she hadn’t heard the door open.

“Crack of dawn banged on the door until I opened it. Asked for water and food. Doesn’t look like he has any money so give him a bit of a shake down, Girl,” Unkar’s lip curled up, clearly annoyed at the man sitting in the corner. Rey nodded, understanding what he meant. If he had no coin, see if he had anything of value. Rey picked up the plate, taking it over to the man who was looking to the front door anytime he heard the sounds of hooves. A couple of horses were tied up outside from overnight stays.

“Here you go,” Rey smiled brightly, trying to make him feel at ease. “That’ll be two coppers.”

“Ah,” the man looked to the door, then to Rey, and gave her a grimace. Rey knew what that meant and looked over her shoulder to see if Unkar was watching. The man looked as if he had had a rough time. His lip was split, dirt covered half of his side, and he looked completely spooked.

“No coin?” she asked, hand on her hip with eyebrow quirked.

“Sorry,” he looked down at the plate, his stomach grumbling as if he hadn’t eaten in days.

“Anything of value on you?” Rey asked, knowing that even if he did she wouldn’t take it. She just wasn’t sure if Unkar was listening in or not.

“Ah…no,” he bit his lips, eyes firmly focused on the food she was holding, and Rey sighed. She pulled out two copper coins, put the plate down and slipped he two coins next to it quickly and stood up.

“Bills are collected when you’re ready to head off,” the woman stated simply. “Wave me over when you’re finished, and I’ll settle everything.”

Rey returned to the small bar area, proceeding to prepare for the guests that would trickle down as the morning dragged on. There wasn’t much to do, but Rey liked to make sure that the place was tidy, well, tidy as she would ever get it. The place was old, rustic, and the dirt from outside occasionally swept in layering the tables with a thin sheet. Rey grabbed a cloth and a small bucket full of soap and water. She started at the front, keeping her eye on the man in the corner occasionally. He was digging into his meal with fervour and Rey knew all to well what that meant. He clearly had not eaten for some days and Rey frowned. Rey was kind. Everyone in Jakku said so and they also said that one day it would get her in trouble. Today may very well be that day but she didn’t particularly care as she wasn’t one to overlook a starving man. The small coins she had gained as tips the previous night were still in her pocket. Rey left the cleaning equipment on a table and went over to the man.

“Finished?” she asked with a small smile, her eyes soft and understanding.

“Yeah,” the man grunted, looking down at the empty plate and clearly disappointed. “Thanks for helping me out.”

“Want another plate?” Rey asked, brushing of his acknowledgement of her small kindness before. His head snapped up, eyes wide and looked as if he wanted to refuse. “Here, let me take this away so it doesn’t clutter that table.”

“Wait!?” the man’s hand shot out, stopping her from picking up the plate and he leant forward. “Can I ask you something?”

“If you let go of me,” Rey shot out, eyes narrowing. She may be kind, but she did not like being grabbed. This man was lucky he wasn’t on his back with the sole of her boot heavy on his face.

“Sorry,” the man pulled back quickly, cringing and looked towards the door again. Rey followed his gaze and knew what he was going to ask immediately.

“They don’t come out this far,” she brushed a strand of hair out of her face that had fallen loose from one of her three buns. The man looked at her surprised. “The First Order, that is. Jakku may be on the boarder, but there’s nothing of interest here and Unkar keeps them away by slipping information to them as it comes by.”

“He feeds them information!?” the man became alarmed, standing up and Rey hushed him with a sharp gaze.

“Nothing too big,” she hissed, waving for him to sit back down and not make a scene. “He knows anything big will bring them here and he’s been skimping on his taxes for years. If they show, he loses the inn.”

“Oh, thank god,” the man slumped into the chair, his face relaxing and the tiredness that his anxiety had been holding at bay seeping over him. “I’ve been running from them for days.”

“Days?” Rey quirked an eyebrow. He didn’t seem like someone the First order would be interested in. He wore a tan jacket, faded by years of use, and he didn’t have a cent to his name. His shoes were worn, probably from walking as he didn’t appear to have any transport. He did have a flask on him, but Rey assumed the water in it would have run out on the second day of his journey. His skin was dark, his eyes matching, but there was a warmth to them that told Rey he was a decent person unlike some of those who passed through.

“It’s a long story,” he looked to the empty plate again, his stomach letting out a growl and Rey picked it up.

“Would you like a room?” Rey asked. If he had been on his feet for a few days, a good sleep would do him well before he continued.

“I should keep moving. Even if the First Order don’t come out this far, I can’t take any chances,” she frowned at that. If he didn’t rest he would collapse before he even reached Resistance territory.

“I’ll let Unkar know you need another plate and a room for the night,” Rey brushed him off, making up her mind that this man would not be leaving today.

“You don’t understand,” he leant forward, the panic in his eyes setting in again. “I have to get over the border.”

“After a good rest,” she pursed her lips. “The road from here is not for the light hearted. The terrain is difficult, and the weather turns dreadful at night. If you get stuck in a sandstorm without knowing what markers to look for, you’ll be dead by tomorrow morning.”

“I’ll be fine,” the man insisted. Rey sighed, her hand on her hip as the other held the dirty plate.

“Stay,” she breathed out. “We will gain more guests as the day goes on and I may be able to organise transport for you.”

“Transport?” he shifted in his seat, face bright with hope at the thought of not walking.

“Yes. Traders come through here on a regular basis. I can trade a few of my ointments for a place on the back of their cart,” Rey offered the slim chance. There was one particular trader she was thinking of who tried to haggle her ointment prices down ridiculously because he knew they fetched a high price in Resistance territory where medicine could be limited at times.

“Really!?” the man jumped up, reaching for her and pulling her into a tight hug. “You have no idea the hell I’ve been through.”

“Let…go,” Rey huffed out, jabbing him with her elbow and causing him to double over. She did not like being grabbed by strangers, even if the gesture was one of gratitude.

“Sorry,” he wheezed, hand on his stomach and hand up. “No touching. Got it.”

“Don’t do it again,” Rey spun on her heel, heading back to the bar to tell Unkar they would be having another guest.

“He doesn’t look like he can afford it,” Unkar barked from the kitchen, not happy with the news. “I want him out.”

“He’s paying,” Rey insisted. “He has enough to stay in the barn.”

“It’s your bed, Girl,” the pig of the man grunted, happy that he was getting some coin from the desperate man, but realistically out of Rey’s pocket.

“Here,” Rey handed over four coins, two she had picked up from the table and the other from her pocket. “One more meal.”

“Good,” Unkar snatched them raising them to the dim light to inspect they weren’t a forgery. “If he causes me trouble, it’s your head, Girl.”

“He won’t,” Rey assured, certain that whatever trouble was following the man wouldn’t make the effort to traverse to Jakku, let alone Nima Outpost.

………………………………

Rey had been wrong. She had been very, very, very, wrong. The man, who she later found out was named Finn, held her close to him in the barn, his hand over her mouth in an effort to keep her quiet. She stayed still, eyes wide and breathing into his palm. She had no clue what was going on, but he was clearly on high alert and Rey strained to hear what he had apparently picked up. He moved to the front of the barn, dragging her with him as he peaked out through a crack the panels of wood made. Rey didn’t appreciate the hold, feeling uncomfortable and angry he had grabbed her again after she had warned him in the Inn that morning. He tried to shush her, eyes wide as she pulled at his arm.

“Please, be quiet,” he hissed lowly, grabbing her tighter to him which only resulted in her opening her mouth and latching her teeth to the side of his palm and biting down. He yelped, letting her go and Rey stumbled forward. “Do you want them to catch us?”

“Who?” Rey growled out softly, facing him with flaring nostrils. “The First Order?”

“Yes!” Finn hissed. “I thought you said they didn’t come out this far!”

“They don’t!” she swept forward, pushing him out of the way and looking through the crack herself. Finn was right. Men dressed in white armour and strange masks that only Stormtroopers wore, swept the perimeter of the inn. Rey had never seen an actual Stormtrooper before, and to her, they didn’t look that intimidating. It was the number of them though that was slightly frightening. “What did you do?!”

“Nothing!” Finn paled, stepping back and looking around the barn. “There’s another exit in here, right?”

“No!” Rey snapped. The barn was only small, more of a shack than and a barn really. Rey continued to watch the commotion and her eyes grew wide when she saw Unkar come out from the inn with a man clad all in back, a cape resting on his shoulders that made his large figure seem even bigger. It fell to the ground, thick and heavy, giving him a silhouette of a giant. Unkar pointed to the small barn and Rey saw the man turn towards there direction. Rey’s breath became shaking and something in her chest tensed. The man’s face was frame by dark, thick locks, and even from here Rey could see that his eyes were hard, steeled, and determined. He did not appear to be a reasonable man and from the distance he held a cruelness to him Rey did not wish to meet.

“They’re coming,” Rey pulled back sharply, panicking herself. Something about that man told her that she needed to hide, that she would be in trouble if they crossed paths. Rey turned, looking around the space and to the window above. “Help me, quick.”

“You said there wasn’t another way out?!” Finn balked.

“That was before,” Rey moved to a large chest that she used to keep her belonging and dragged it to below the window. “Find anything you can to stack.”

“There isn’t a lot in here!” Finn stayed where he was, eyeing everything desperately. Rey shot him a glare before pointing a few things out. That was, until smoke began to fill the room from the roof down and Rey looked up. They were burning the barn down, her home, the only thing she had to call her own. Tears welled up in her eyes, her nose stinging from the smoke and she whimpered. She was terrified and at a complete loss of what to do. “Rey, come on!”

“Come out, Traitor!” someone yelled from outside, banging on the locked door that Finn had secured with a plank of wood. Rey looked to Finn, to his outstretched hand as he stood unsteadily on her belongings. Smoke billowed around him, but even Rey could see the window was still to high for them to reach. She looked to the door, moving towards it.

“What are you doing!?” Finn gaped, hand still out desperately. “We can make it!”

“We can’t!” Rey sniffled, arms around herself as the smoke grew thicker. She could feel it seeping into her clothes, her hair, her skin. She took a deep breath in, lungs burning, and she knew they couldn’t stay in here for much longer. They would either be burnt to a crisp or die from the smoke. Rey moved towards the door, lifting the piece of wood and threw it open. She stumbled out with her hand over her mouth. She dropped to her knees, coughing violently, nose running and eyes watering. She could see the shining tips of a pair of well cared for black boots, and she knew that it was the man she had spied before.

“Who is this?” the man’s voice was deep, soft, not what Rey had been expecting, and if she wasn’t gasping for breath she would’ve look up at him.

“No one,” Unkar grumbled, anger clipped into his tone as he watched the barn go further up in flames. “Just an orphan girl. Her no good parents dumped her on me in exchange for a room one night.”

“Liar,” Rey coughed, knowing that what he spoke wasn’t true. Her parents had loved her, adored her, they hadn’t abandoned her at all and they were coming back.

“Her name?” the man snapped, crouching down so that Rey was level with his knees. He reached his hand out, the leather that covered them brushing under her chin before a finger titled it up. It was then she saw him up close and she was taken aback by just how young he was.

“Rey!” she heard Finn yell from behind her. She could hear him struggling and fighting against the Stormtroopers that had a hold on him. “You let her go!”

“Rey…,” the man drawled, his lip quirking to the side as if he was amused. “It would not do you well to associate with traitors of the First Order.”

“Monster!” Finn yelled out again. The man paid him no attention, lifting his other hand to her face and using his thumb to wipe soot off her tanned skin.

“Bring them both,” the man stated abruptly, letting her go and standing up to address the militarised group.

“What?!” Rey spluttered, forcing herself to stand with unsteady feet. “What do you want with me?!”

“You gave aid to a traitor,” the man stated plainly, looking through her as if she was an insect, and yet there was something else there, something she couldn’t place. “You will stand trial.”

“Trial!” she looked to Unkar who had slunk back, his head shaking, and she pleaded with him silently.

“She didn’t know!” Finn was on his knees, sword at his throat to stop him from kicking off again. “I didn’t tell her anything.”

“A trial will determine that,” the man hummed, eyes trained on Rey once more.

“The man is right,” Unkar grunted, speaking up even though Rey knew he was a coward. “The Girl works here for me. Waits tables, cleans the guest rooms, and sells her ointments.”

“Ointments?” the man looked to Unkar, eyes narrowed before flicking to the tavern. “How convenient that Nima Outpost is situated so close to the border. It is only right for me to assume that this girl is selling medical treatments to the enemy of the First Order. Clearly she is a traitor herself.”

“That’s not true!” Rey paled, her whole body shaking, and she wrapped her arms around herself. “They’re just home remedies, nothing more!”

“Then tell me, what exactly do you claim these remedies do?” she shifted at his question and swallowed thickly. She knew she was in trouble.

“They…help wounds heal, lower fevers, settle turns of the stomach,” Rey whispered, her hope dropping with each word she spoke.

“And I am to assume that some of these wounds treated are on people seeking refuge with The Resistance?” he took a step closer to her and Rey knew she was stuck, that she couldn’t talk her way out of this, and she lifted her chin. He was tall, far taller than her who was on the shorter side of things. Still, she narrowed her eyes in defiance and nodded.

“Profit for the Inn,” Unkar grumbled out again, not wanting to lose a source on income that brought a decent sum of coins at no cost to him.

“And yet,” the man sneered back at the pig of an Inn Keeper, “You under pay your taxes on a regular basis.”

“I…I…,” Unkar paled, beginning to splutter at being caught out for what he thought was under the radar.

“Alright,” the man turned back to Rey, sneer turning into a smug smile. “I won’t put her on trial for being a traitor, but, I will take her as back payment for the taxes you owe.”

“What!?” Rey yelled out, taking a step back and growing increasingly alarmed and fearful. “You can’t do that! I’m not a slave!”

“Platt here says you were given to him as payment for a room. That makes you a possession and I am well within my rights to take what I think meets the value owing of his missed taxes,” he waved his hand as he spoke, beckoning two Stormtroopers who grabbed her quickly before she could make a break for it.

“I’m not a possession!” Rey struggled, eyes wide and wild. “I’m a person! You don’t get to decide to take me away from my home!”

“I can, and I have,” the man shrugged. “Mr Platt, thank you for your co-operation.”

“Can I offer you a drink before you set off?” Unkar offered but his tone clearly wanted the man to decline.

“No,” the man turned, beckoning his troops to follow him. “Tie the woman’s hands and feet then place her in the carriage. Make the other one walk.”

“You can’t do this!” Rey yelled out, tears burning in her eyes as rope bit into her skin. “I can’t leave! Please!”

...........................


End file.
